No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it. Theodore Roosevelt

THE BRAVADO

Once again, a massive failure of leaderships has been displayed in Washington. And, once again, George Bush has escaped an independent inquiry into his irresponsible actions. For the fourth time in less than five years, the President of the United States and his cohorts been placed above the law. That, in itself, is a major American disaster.

When, if ever, could this have happened before? When else could one administration have pulled off four major scandals; four devastating, potentially impeachable screw-ups, and never have to answer for them? When else, in the United States of America, could so many crimes of an elected president and his cadre remain unexplained, unchallenged, and unpunished? When? Probably never. When in history have the media sat silent through criminal scandal at highest levels of government?

We’re not talking mistakes, here. We’re not talking poor judgment or failed policies. We’re not talking politics as usual, with its underhanded array of pork and perks. But we are talking about very serious violations of the public trust, and very possibly the law, perpetrated by the elected leader of this nation and his handlers.

Even more amazingly, we are talking about the shameful reality that not a single one of these offenses has been investigated by a truly independent, non-political, neutral commission, armed with subpoena powers and adequate funding, and answerable ONLY to the people of the United States of America. Not a single one.

In every one of the scandals in question, calls for a nonpartisan, independent commission were thwarted by the very people accused of misdeeds and crimes. Something is really wrong when an American president who is accused of misconduct can determine who will delve into the facts behind his own actions? Something also is really wrong when incriminating evidence can be redacted and withheld from the public by the very people incriminated by that evidence.

Something is even more seriously wrong when cover up after cover up goes unreported and unchallenged by the same corporate media that spent eight years in relentless pursuit of scandals related to Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Paula Jones and that awful threat to national security, Monica Lewinsky.

Of course, the targets of the media, and ultimately a Special Prosecutor, were Bill and Hillary Clinton, not George W. Bush, and accountability was not yet a dirty word. And of course, in that far more innocent time, challenging the president was not considered to be an act of treason. Tragically, today, it is.

THE SCANDALS

Below are capsulated descriptions of the four most egregious events that took place under the watch of President George W. Bush. Serious questions have been raised about the role of the administration in each of these incidents. The public has a right to hear the answers to these questions and to know the extent to which the president may have been involved.

George W. Bush was the man at the helm when each of the following occurred. For that reason alone he is fully accountable to the people of the United States for a clear and rational explanation of the role of his administration in each of the outrages below:

The devastating attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

The WMD hoax designed to gain public support for an unprovoked, illegal and ineptly planned invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The criminal outing of a CIA operative Valerie Plame by a person or persons in the Bush White House.

The profound failure of the US government, FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Every one of these actions resulted in real or potential death and other harm to uncalculated numbers of people. Each action, therefore, raises valid questions of criminal culpability and/or negligence by the President himself or people closely connected to the White House.

As a result, the moves by the administration to thwart, postpone, or control investigations into these travesties are highly suspect to say the least. And yet, the moves to do so were successfully maneuvered at each and every turn.

THE STING

The Karl Rove strategy to cover up the crimes of this administration has been put into play with the skill that only years of practice can hone. And yet, the plan was so simple that even George Bush has had no difficulty in carrying it out. To this day, these two men and their cabal have been able to avert a single authentic investigation into their nefarious activities. They have managed to put themselves above the law by following a game plan that goes something like this:

First, claim to be concerned with uncovering the truth. Repeat that claim over and over whenever anyone asks, but do nothing at all for as long as possible. Arrange for the media to corroborate your abject dedication to a full and open investigation of the facts. Make certain there is no independent inquiry by any overambitious journalist.

Next, attack the integrity and character of anyone who raises legitimate questions about anyone in the White House. Have the media echo widely distributed talking points that discredit anyone and everyone who attempt to uncover the truth about the events in question. Subtly suggest that the real responsibility for any of the scandals belongs to Bill Clinton.

Third, agree to an inquiry by a committee or commission whose members are appointed by the President, and then limit its ability to investigate. Refuse to surrender revealing documents to any investigation and discredit any members of who ask pertinent questions. Stonewall the investigation by refusing adequate funding or any extension of time to continue a probe. Refuse to allow WH aides to testify before any group of inquiry. Have key members of the administration refuse to testify under oath and insist that Dick Cheney accompany the President to all hearings.

Fourth, delay the disclosure of any damaging findings until after any important election. In addition, declare all incriminating results in a final report to be classified and have all harmful information blackened out

And finally, when all else fails, pass the buck. Find someone willing to fall on his sword and take the full blame for whatever went wrong so that George Bush and his cabal appears to be totally innocent of any wrongdoing. Rest assured that many Americans will be comforted to hear that the President of the United States did not know, was not told, or had no possible knowledge of anything that was going on around him. He is, after all, above the law.

THE FACTS

Once again, for the sake of brevity, the evasive actions taken by George Bush and his cohorts will be given in outline. Each response to the scandals in this article can easily be validated by any Google search. Each response is also a frightening acclamation of a government in decay, and a nation in disarray.

More than a year later, in November of 2002, under pressure from victims’ families, he relented and allowed the formation of a 9/11 Commission, naming Pentagon advisor Henry Kissinger as co-chair. After one month, Kissinger resigned after strong objections from the families of 9/11 victims.

The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission only 3 million dollars to do its work. In contrast, $50 million had been given to the commission that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.

George Bush stonewalled the investigation at every turn. For a detailed summary of the obstacles the Commission was forced to overcome, check out the information at http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=124722 . In the end, the Kean Commission left a wide range of vital questions unexplored and unanswered. Requests to reopen the hearings to address the many discrepancies and fallacies in the report have gone unheeded.

At the end of the day, none of the outstanding questions about what the President knew and when he knew it has been answered. To this day, George Bush openly blames the FBI for the failures that led to 9/11. He continues to deny the evidence that has been uncovered and insists that no one in the WH had any prior knowledge of warnings about possible attacks. He is above the law.

The second part of the investigation was never even attempted. After the 2004 elections, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts concluded that such an inquiry would be pointless. The matter was dropped and no one in the Bush administration has had to explain the repeated claims that Iraq’s WMD’s were a sure thing, and that they posed a serious threat to both Iraq’s neighbors and to the US. They are all above the law.

The Plame leak:

Bob Novak’s article identifying Valerie Plame as a CIA operative appeared in July of 2003. Novak claimed that his sources for this information were two senior Bush administration officials.

Despite knowing that a serious crime had originated from inside the White House, George Bush did NOTHING at all to investigate the leak.

At the end of September, 2003, CIA Director George J. Tenet called on the Justice Department to investigate the leak of one of his operatives.

Days later, the Justice Department, led by John Ashcroft, a man close to the WH, opened an investigation into the leak. At that time, President Bush made the following statement to reporters: "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of..."

On December 30, 2003, five months after the Novak article appeared, Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the leak investigation and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald took over the probe. As honorable as Fitzgerald may be, he is NOT an independent prosecutor. Rather, he is an employee who reports only to the Justice Department of this administration.

In July of 2005, TWO YEARS after the original leak, Karl Rove was named as a source of Valerie Plame’s identity by Time reporter Matthew Cooper.

To date, George Bush has done absolutely nothing at about removing the criminals in his own WH. The Fitzgerald investigation is winding down, and in a few weeks we will see what we will see. Don’t hold your breath that justice will be done. George Bush, Karl Rove, and all the rest are above the law. On the other hand, without word one from the media, Bush as continued to appoint criminals to sensitive government positions. Do a web search for the felons that Bush has appointed to his government. Criminals are welcomed in the Bush White House.

The Aftermath of Katrina:

Everyone knows what happened, so it is unnecessary to recap the events of the hurricane and its aftermath. Suffice it to say that the Katrina fiasco was a disastrous failure by people who were entrusted with the job of planning and carrying out major emergency relief efforts wherever they occur.

It was a disastrous failure by a president who talked incessantly about security, but who appointed totally inadequate and unqualified cronies to head the agencies that failed the nation in crucial emergency.

Almost immediately, George Bush said that he wanted to get to the bottom of what went wrong with the response to Hurricane Katrina. Therefore, he planned to personally oversee an investigation. Did you get that? He planned to investigate himself!

So, in case that didn’t go over too well, on September 17th the Republican leadership in the Senate stepped to protect George Bush from anyone who would question his shameful response to the hurricane. Only days after the storm, and in true lemming style, the GOP killed a proposal for an independent investigation of what had happened in New Orleans.

Instead, GOP members of Congress organized an inquiry committee without consulting a single Democrat. This “impartial group” is composed of senior members of Congress, with Republicans in the majority. How comforting to know that GOP loyalists plan to conduct a full and unbiased investigation of George Bush, Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff and their collective failures after Katrina.. How comforting, indeed, to know that - once again – there are those who remain above the law.

THE LAST WORD

What’s left to be said? Not very much. George Bush has had a free pass to do as he pleased for nearly five years now. He and his henchmen have not been held accountable for any crime against the people of this country or the world. He is above the law.

George Bush and his entire band of brigands have perfected their sting. They use it because it works. They use it because they can. They use it because we allow them to. George Bush walks freely while so many of his victims no longer can. After all he has done, George Bush still can laugh up his sleeve at a nation that is utterly powerless to stop him.

And that’s because George W. Bush is a man above the law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: While criminals have occupied many a public office in our nation our media, in the past, have at least tried to inform the public and expose the criminals. The severity of the crimes being conducted by our current administration combined with the level of blatant deception by our media has created a surreal disconnect between reality and publicly perceived reality. While I have deep concerns about the seemingly endless list of anti-American, anti-life, anti-peace and anti-humanity acts by the Bush administration, my focus remains on the people who are perpetuation the false cover that distracts the people from seeing the truth; thus permitting the crimes to continue. These people are the members of the corporate media and we can not forgive them for what they have permitted and we must not permit them to continue to provide cover for the criminals in charge of our nation.